Activating Community Potential: A Conversation with the Banff Canmore Foundation

Get ready to be inspired as we sit down with Laurie Edward, the Executive Director of the Banff Canmore Foundation, on this episode of Give Amplify Connect. Join us as we explore the incredible work being done by the foundation in the Bow Valley community. From truth and reconciliation initiatives to supporting mental health, and providing funds for affordable housing, the Banff Canmore Foundation is making a real impact.

Discover how the foundation responds to urgent needs and unexpected challenges, and learn how you can get involved in creating lasting change. Plus, find out how small gifts can make a big difference and how you can create a donor-advised fund to support projects that matter to you.

Don't miss this insightful conversation on activating community potential and building a better future for everyone through your local community foundation.

Visit the Banff Canmore Foundation's brand new website
www.banffcanmorefoundation.org

About Our Guest
Laurie Edward is passionate about philanthropy, inclusive community and collaborating to achieve shared aspirations. Laurie brings to her work many years of experience in program innovation, community engagement, and strategic management in many sectors including post-secondary education, national retail, financial services, and public land policy advocacy. She has held program management roles at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and Mountain Equipment Co-op. Laurie has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from McGill University and an MBA from the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary. She recharges by getting outside and loves to backcountry ski, run, bike, paddle and climb. Laurie and her partner and young son live in Canmore.

Email: ledward@banffcanmorefoundation.org

What is Give Amplify Connect?

There’s a story behind every action. Give Amplify Connect is a podcast from the Wolfe Pack Warriors Foundation that gives a voice to the Alberta-based charitable organizations creating community impact, changing lives, and making a difference. Driven by honest conversations with host Kristy Wolfe, it’s a chance for passionate changemakers to share their story.

Learn more at wolfepackwarriors.com

Podcast music used with artist permission
"Okay" by Ellen Braun

Transcript

Laurie Edward: 0:00

This organization has given me a way to be connected to change makers in every corner of the community and to be an active partner in taking on the biggest challenges of our time climate action , affordability .

Introduction: 0:24

Welcome to Give Amplify Connect, the Wolfe Pack Warriors Foundation podcast that dives deeper into the stories of the charitable organizations in Alberta that are making a difference. Host and producer Kristy Wolfe sits down with the leaders of the nonprofit world to learn more about their purpose, hopes and dreams. Settle in for an honest conversation with Kristy about the impact people are making in their communities and how they keep moving forward.

Kristy Wolfe: 0:57

With me today is Laurie Edward. Laurie Edward is the executive director of the Banff Canmore Foundation and I know her because I'm actually on the program committee, so I get to meet with her regularly. While recording with Laurie, she has neighbors that are doing some construction, so you might hear some hammers. All right, Laurie, tell us about the Banff Canmore Foundation and the mission of what you're doing.

Laurie Edward: 1:19

Well, Banff Canmore Foundation is the community foundation of the Bow Valley. We connect resources and opportunities to activate community potential. So we are all about enhancing quality of life and creating belonging for everyone in the Bow Valley, and I guess what that means is that we are constantly developing knowledge about what needs to happen or what wants to happen in community to support community vitality. So what donors see, what community organizations see and what we're learning from other research that we do, and then we're a conduit for resources needed to make it happen. So I think about us as a platform for community building that allows everyone to play a role.

Kristy Wolfe: 2:09

I love that and it's really what I've seen. We moved to the Bow Valley four years ago and the Foundation is one of the organizations that I learned about quickly and just watching what has happened over the last four years has been amazing. It's really how I know what's happening around the Bow Valley. But I'm going to ask you how did you get involved with the Banff Canmore Foundation?

Laurie Edward: 2:32

Well, I got involved with the Community Foundation movement about 20 years ago when I was working for a national retailer that had an endowment fund supporting wilderness conservation at the Vancouver Foundation, and in that role I saw what a powerful model it was for businesses like ours to be able to provide a reliable source of funding for community organizations doing amazing work on the ground, while allowing flexibility for the business to contribute a lot when times were good or pull back when times weren't so good.

Laurie Edward: 3:05

We could invite business partners and customers to contribute to that fund, to support that cause that we shared from time to time. And that fund, even though the business conditions have changed so much for that organization, that fund is still supporting that work and it has secured hundreds and hundreds of acres of wilderness area. That's stuck with me, and I think I also come to community building work. As somebody who has had some really powerful experiences of community, you know you're a part of something bigger that's vibrant and connected and that seems to be in a flow state. So it seems like the resources that you need to really take on the challenges and step into the opportunities that come your way are available. And I've also had times where I've been in situations where that has not been available to me and I think that gap. It motivates me all the time to work to create the conditions that I know can make life so good, and that is what community foundations do.

Kristy Wolfe: 4:11

When the organization that you're connected to is doing things in the community as well. I find that people like that really resonates with people.

Laurie Edward: 4:20

Absolutely. It is hugely impactful for your employees, for your customers, for your business partners to be able to connect on a values level around things. I think about the organizations here in the Bow Valley who participate, who have funds and who make contributions regularly to the community foundation. The potential to deepen those important relationships through that kind of work, I think, is really it can be magic.

Kristy Wolfe: 4:52

I agree. Can you tell us a little bit about some of the organizations or how Banff Canmore Foundation has made a difference in this community?

Laurie Edward: 5:00

The community foundation movement is a lot about creating a culture of yes for creative action, like, yes, do that thing that you feel called to do. Yes, your community is going to be behind you. Yes, you are a part of this and our vision is and I'll read this is that Bow Valley people are optimistic about our shared future, supported to take creative action for community benefit and are confidently navigating our changing world. I think there are so many ways, just in the last few years where I've been involved, that I've seen BCF translate community care into action. So, for example, on Truth and Reconciliation, we've been able to flow funds to projects that have been supportive of Indigenous language and Indigenous youth and food security, and to incubate and bring to life a new Indigenous cultural center in Banff, and those projects have allowed new relationships to form that then are creating the opportunity for more incredible things to happen in that space. On environment, we have funded the capacity of an organization that's really well positioned to lead collective action on climate in the Bow Valley to be able to do that work, and they are stepping into that space in ways that is really inspiring.

Laurie Edward: 6:27

On affordability and housing security, we were able to flow a $100,000 gift to the local YWCA to get a new housing complex over the finish line. In a world where costs have been skyrocketing. They were like we actually can't buy the appliances and we were able to connect a donor with that project and get that over the line. And we're just now looking at making our first ever impact loan to get a new affordable housing development into the ground 164 units of affordable housing that is desperately needed in this community. So those are some of the tangible things, but I think the other thing that is surprising and really powerful when you talk about the impact is the community foundation's ability to respond to urgent and unexpected community needs. So we saw that early in the pandemic, when there weren't a lot of programs and organized responses to help frontline workers access PPE and sick people to access isolation housing, food for vulnerable people, and the community foundation was able to step in, coordinate partners and flow resources to meet those needs.

Laurie Edward: 7:46

And I think one of the most well a recent example that is still really kind of present and alive for us right now is that just this July, terrible fire destroyed a building owned by Lake Louise ski area that housed 170 employees who lost everything, and the community foundation was able to quickly open our emergency fund.

Laurie Edward: 8:13

We received more than $150,000 in donations in two short months and that money was flowed directly to residents who were displaced by the fire and we know that that was hugely impactful. So it helped people recover from their losses, get back on their feet, but also it allowed hundreds of people who wanted to help to actually be able to do something that helped. It's that platform right when you can actually connect care with action and we know that people who receive that support, many of those people, were transformed by that experience, not just because of the money that helped them kind of get their lives back on track, but because they experienced this feeling of being uplifted by community in a dark time. Those are some of the really kind of tangible examples that come to mind for me.

Kristy Wolfe: 9:07

Well, and I think that Banff Canmore Foundation is a shining example of give, amplify and connect, that it's not just about the funds going, but how do we connect people, how do we share this message, how do we get people involved at any level that they are capable of being involved in, whether that's volunteering or giving a small amount of money or just helping raise awareness? So all of those pieces really fit in with what the Wolfe Pack Warriors Foundation is trying to talk about. So thank you for the work that you're doing, as well as your team and all of your volunteers involved with the board, the different committees. There's a lot of people that go into supporting the Banff Canmore Foundation.

Laurie Edward: 9:46

There is, and there's a lot there. First of all, I want to acknowledge the power of the kind of gift that Wolfe Pack Warriors makes to the Community Foundation. It's your support of our core activities that actually allows the Community Foundation to have the procedures and the governance and the relationships in place to be able to respond to something like the Charleston residents fire in Lake Louise. So we can move with agility, we can pull in other partners because we have core support from folks like Wolfe Pack Warriors to just be doing that work every day. That's huge, so I would love to share that message with all of your people. Some of the value that Community Foundations bring is that we know the organization's doing the work, and so we can help donors make really strategic investment decisions about where an organization actually needs core support, where they need program support. What kinds of core support do they need? What kinds of overhead do they need? Do they need the confidence to be able to hire a new person to build out a program area that is really their work to do so, when you're talking about give, amplify, connect, I moved to Canmore with my one month old in 2011.

Laurie Edward: 11:12

And I spent the better part of a decade working and parenting in the Valley without feeling like I was fully engaged and that I could kind of fully share my guests, and this organization has really given me a way to kind of transform my experience of community. So I'm most alive when I am putting wind in the sails of people and projects that I know can make a huge difference, and I love seeing and activating opportunities for systems change. And this organization has given me a way to be connected to change makers in every corner of the community and to be an active partner in taking on the biggest challenges of our time Climate action, truth and reconciliation, affordability, mental health all through community driven work. And so I just like to share that. This isn't unique to me. For so many people, the local community foundation provides this opportunity to connect with other community builders and to contribute in a way that you can uniquely contribute.

Kristy Wolfe: 12:20

That is perfect for the next question I was going to ask, which is how can others give, amplify and connect with you and the Banff Canmore Foundation? And I think that it can be little things. Don't think of it as being a larger donation. It does not need to be that. How would you say that people could get involved if they've never been involved with the Banff Canmore Foundation?

Laurie Edward: 12:41

Everyone who lives in this valley or visits or feels connected can be a part of this movement. Here You're totally right. So an easy way to tap into our local know-how and to support grants to organizations doing all kinds of amazing work in community is to make a gift to the BCF Community Fund, which supports the Community Grants Program and is a pillar of what we do, and small gifts make a big difference. If you are someone who has a particular interest, something you really care about, that you want to see happen in community that might be environment, it might be truth and reconciliation, it might be mental health then you can find at the Community Foundation a field of interest fund and you can make a gift to that. And that can be small, big, it can be any size, and you can know that the Community Foundation is going to be actively looking for ways to flow that money into the projects that have the best chance of making a difference.

Laurie Edward: 13:44

If you're somebody who wants to be more hands-on, maybe you have specific charities that you want to support. Maybe you want to be making decisions about where your funds go with other family members or other colleagues in your business. Consider setting up a donor-advised fund where you can flow money in when it's strategic to do so and you can have that steady stream of support flowing out to organizations. And every year we sit down with you to collaborate on where best to flow those funds. That's the gift part.

Kristy Wolfe: 14:21

Yeah, that's perfect. I mean, we've talked a lot about the Amplify and Connect part already, and so that is definitely one of the things I'm looking for, because sometimes it is hard to figure out what exactly an organization is asking for, and you've made it really clear there. A lot of what the Banff Canmore Foundation does is provide funds to the organizations doing the work, and so I would actually add that something that people can do is, if you volunteer with a nonprofit, if you work or receive services, let them know about the grants, because we tend to get grant applications from the same people over and over, and if you don't know, you don't apply. So it's always worth finding out more about what the grants are, and those applications are due for February. Is that correct?

Laurie Edward: 15:07

Typically our community grants program application deadline is at the end of January and I would also say that, on the theme of Amplify, what you're talking about is right in the crosshairs. But also I encourage people to tell your favorite charity to consider setting up an endowment fund at the Community Foundation so you can be an advocate for the charities that you want to support, to have a vehicle that is attracting resources, that can support their financial sustainability, that can diversify their revenue stream. That is a hugely impactful way that people can amplify what we do.

Kristy Wolfe: 15:54

That's perfect, and it just brings me back to that idea that we were talking about this before we started recording. One of my personal goals with this podcast, give Amplify Connect, is to use this as a way to report about what has happened with an organization that we have supported, rather than having them write up a report for my board to read after we are using this platform to have a conversation, to continue to talk about what's happening as a way to show reporting, but also to then get the message out further. I always learn more in these conversations about the organizations we're working with, but it also gives an opportunity for people to hear about it firsthand.

Laurie Edward: 16:33

Absolutely. And what struck me in preparing and thinking about this conversation that we were going to have today, when I was listening to the podcast that you have published so far, what struck me was that if only I listened to these stories of these organizations doing incredible work, if only I learn a whole bunch of new things you've already done something incredible and to think that not only are you connecting people generally to this work, but you're also connecting people, you're helping to inform people who have relationships, networks, resources that can be harnessed to support these important organizations in this important work. So I am blown away, actually, by how brilliant this podcast strategy is. I'm going to tell you.

Kristy Wolfe: 17:29

Oh, I will definitely pass this podcast onto my board. Thank you for that.

Laurie Edward: 17:34

I just wanted to say something else about the theme of Connect and I wanted to just say how important those conversations are. Don't underestimate the power of sitting down with your local community foundation.

Laurie Edward: 17:49

You know there are 12 community foundations in Alberta. So for people who are tuning in from outside of the Bow Valley, find the community foundation in your region and get involved. There is no doubt in my mind that it starts with that conversation where you can express what's important to you, what change you want to see, what you'd like to be a part of, so that that exploration of the opportunities that exist to actually move that forward can start to happen. That Connect part is what it is actually all about. There's a role for everyone to play in this movement and it starts with that conversation. Yes, like I want to go out for coffee with everyone who listens to this and might want to go out for coffee with me. So call me.

Kristy Wolfe: 18:38

Okay, wait, how are they going to connect with you? Are they going to email you? What's the best way for them to actually let you know that they want to go for coffee?

Laurie Edward: 18:45

You can find me on the internet. On our website there is my email. I pass out my cell number. I am ready to connect with anyone who feels like they want to have a conversation with me.

Kristy Wolfe: 18:59

So in the show notes you will find the Banff Canmore Foundation website, and I will also include Laurie's email there. I won't put your cell phone number there, that sounds like trouble.

Laurie Edward: 19:09

Okay, and I also would say that subscribing to our email newsletter is an amazing way not only to help amplify what the Community Foundation does, but also, much like this podcast, it is a platform for shining a light on the work, the amazing initiatives, the organizations that are working on the ground in the Bow Valley, and so subscribing to that is a really good way to help build momentum around all kinds of things but make a difference for vitality. vitality.

Kristy Wolfe: 19:48

All right, to end on, will you tell us about an organization or a person who maybe you've worked with, maybe you haven't yet Someone that inspires you?

Laurie Edward: 19:56

I knew you were going to ask me this question and I've been giving this some thought, and one person that I can say honestly inspires me every time I think about her is Eva Friesen, who is the CEO of the Calgary Foundation. She is tireless, she's brilliant and she is committed to growing this movement. She's a champion for building local community, held wealth and capability. In so many ways she embodies this work. So if ever I'm feeling like ooh, it's too big or too much or whatever, I can pretty much for sure call on the image of Eva Friesen and that gets me going. She seems like even after doing this work for 18 years, she's still just getting started. She's phenomenal. So I am really grateful that Calgary Foundation is in our corner and that we've got Eva as a partner who is keeping things growing and happening. She's just amazing.

Laurie Edward: 20:57

The other person that I was thinking about is Daryl Kootenay, and Daryl is a Stony Nakota young community leader. He has worked with Banff Canmore Foundation to co-create and co-lead some projects. I believe he is one of the people in this Valley that is transforming community life through the work he's doing. I'm so inspired by the relational approach that he brings to building community capacity and he has a way of creating space for what wants to happen to come. I'm ever grateful for his patience for working across disparities and differences to find shared vision and to participate in the co-creation of our future, of our shared future, in this place, in this Valley. I'm really grateful that I've had a chance to work with him.

Kristy Wolfe: 21:58

Well, Laurie, I'm really grateful that you came on this podcast and shared all of this glorious information with us. So thank you Again. Everything will be in the show notes so people can find ways to connect with Banff Canmore Foundation. But thank you.

Laurie Edward: 22:12

Thanks, Kristy. Thank you for the work that you're doing to connect community builders and change makers in Alberta. I'm very grateful.

Kristy Wolfe: 22:22

Thanks for joining us today. The purpose of the Wolfe Pack Warriors Foundation is to give, amplify and connect. Visit our website, www. wolfepackwarriorscom to learn more about this initiative or connect with us about a registered charity that is important to you. Don't miss the next episode. Follow Give, Amplify, Connect on your favorite podcast platform to hear from other Alberta-based nonprofits about the work they are doing. On a final note, remember to take care of yourself and your pack.